Moonlight Bridge - Dark Hour - Kazuki
"Orgia mode…engage!"
A spectacular light sparks across Agis' body, shining like a shooting star. They form into gorgeous wings that spread out from her back. She hovers above the ground, ready to take off after the enemy.
"An automaton that is capable of using such power. Human ingenuity knows no bounds, it seems," Nyarlathotep says, strangely calmed and amused by Aigis.
Aigis leans her body forward and plants one leg on the ground, ready to head in with a full assault.
"Master, stay–"
Aigis slams the palm of her hand into his face before he can finish. Shiki's body goes flying past Nyarlathotep. The aftershock hits me square in the face. He digs his fingers into the ground before he can crash into a car. She's not giving him a second to breathe, following up with another attack. However, Shiki barely manages to dodge the strike. It had enough power to blow the car off the ground. The enemy creates obstacles to block Aigis' path to buy time to counter her. But with her explosive spike in power and firearms, she smashes through everything all at once.
"Wha–"
Aigis shuts him up again, flinging him with a kick. She uses her small thrusters to boost toward him, hitting him with an explosive follow-up. She continues to assail him with ruthless attacks that leave him no time to react. Orgia mode has a time limit, so she'll want to wrap this up before she hits it. Once that happens, she won't be able to move for a bit. But she's hitting him pretty damn hard, so maybe she's got this.
"Kazuki, are you able to get free?"
"I…think…so! You…?"
"Mine seems to be stronger than yours."
I can't summon or use Shadow-mog, but my strength should be more than enough to break out of this if I keep trying to budge my arm out. But isn't Nyarlathotep going to stop us? When we break free, I'm going after him again. Hopefully, Aigis can last long enough for me to get after him…
But this is weird. He isn't worried, agitated, or even furious that Aigis is winning. He's just smiling. He can't be that cavalier, even when his guy is losing, right?
"Shiki, when are you going to perform your task?"
I jerk my head over to Aigis and him. She's about to deliver a decisive blow to his head. When it connects, he'll be laid out… It didn't connect. The man who was taking all of her attacks catches her fist.
"What?" she says, clearly baffled by his feat.
"Sorry, I was trying to understand her pattern since I am unfamiliar with this kind of foe. But I have acclimated to her style."
Her arm is frozen solid in the blink of an eye. Shiki capitalizes on that with lightning-quick hits that strike her head and chest. She tries to counter, but he blocks her elbow, freezing that too. Aigis gets away from him, covering her escape with gunfire. The ice is already melting from the heat emitting from her body.
"Palladion!"
Her Persona comes, sending a shockwave across the bridge, shattering the ice even more. She heads in, using her Persona as support. They flank her from both sides, closing his options of escape. Ice is coating the ground again, but Aigis launches herself towards her Persona. She instantly bounces off Palladion, aiming for Shiki. Her metallic foot lances him. Yes, a clean hit.
"Predictable."
The sound of ice cracking against metal sends a dreadful image through my head. Aigis' body is lifted off the ground. Shiki pulls her back to the ground, hitting her with swift, razor-sharp strikes, tearing at her metal body. A human's icy fists are now serrating a body that can weather fire and ice as if she were nothing but a piece of paper. He conjures a pillar from below, crashing into the mechanical girl, and sending her soaring into the sky. Bringing his hands down, a hail of sharp icicles rain down on her, seemingly out of nowhere. They keep coming and coming, showing no end to the downpour…
"Palladion!"
A metal rod poking out of her Persona shatters whatever icicles are coming down with another burst of physical power. She stands up, her body torn up, electrical sparks fly out, and the parts inside her body roar as she tries to stay on her feet. The dazzling blue wings begin to fade from her body, turning to specks of light before disappearing.
"You were fighting with a time limit, were you not? I am not proficient with machinery, however, that state you were in seemed to have heated your body exponentially. From that and how you were fighting, I could tell you were trying to conclude this fight quickly… Yet, it was a meaningless effort." He opens his clothes to reveal his chest covered in crystal-like frost. "My ice is more potent than one would assume. Though your attacks did concern me for a moment. If I had made a single mistake while asserting your strength, I could have suffered for it." He creates a thin needle at his fingertips, aiming it at Aigis' head. "...Even a machine would no longer work if I destroy the head."
Come on, goddamn it, break! Break! The ice is cracking the more I keep trying to force myself free. I can feel my body getting more free by the second. The fissure builds to the edge of the ice. I push with all the feeling I have with my arm. The crystalized frost all over my body breaks off after putting all I had into breaking free. I break into a dash despite the overwhelming numbness around my whole body. My feet are heavy but I keep moving. Shiki turns, only to see my shoes hitting his face. He goes rolling backward, unable to catch himself.
"Aigis! Are you okay?"
"You…why?"
"Can you stand!?"
"I am…unable… I have…reached…my...limit."
Damnit, she'll be an easier target for them, and that dropkick won't stun Shiki for long. Maybe we have to– No, no! I can't let them leave, I just can't!
Shizuka finally breaks out of her icy prison and rushes over to us. "Kazuki, we're leaving!"
"But…!"
"Don't be rash! If we stay, they will destroy Aigis!"
"I know that!"
"Then are we running!?"
"True blue"
An incredible cold wind blows our way, matching the unstoppable force of a blizzard from the Antarctic. Snow assails our sights and their delicate touch unnerves me. The heat in my body is quickly fading, but the temperature is only getting lower as the storm rages on… I learned a person can't survive more than an hour inside a blizzard, however, that's after experiencing hypothermia, frostbite, and not to mention all brain function ceasing. If it gets any lower, staying here will be downright suicide.
"Eh, this works too. If you wish to, Shiki, kill everyone save for Kazuki Kei"
We have to run, we just have to! But Fuuka… Damnit, goddamnit!
"Kazuki!"
"...Screw it, run!"
"True Blue art…"
It's too late, we're not going to make it out in time. Shizuka might, but Aigis and I, we're not. The bleakness of the situation is just too much… Why does life have to be this unfair?
"...Ava–"
Death didn't come to greet us. A giant wave of fire burns through the air above us, burning away the snow, the ice below, and the very air itself. The heat is bearing down on us with its warming comfort. My freezing body is returning to normal, relatively speaking.
"…Shizuka, do you know who's doing this?"
"No, I don't…"
She's confused but still on her guard, searching the bridge for anyone else. Please, just tell me it isn't someone else coming to kill us.
"What a pain…! I did not think you would come," Nyarlathotep voices his irritation, letting his condescending and collected image slip.
"You really thought I wouldn't?"
That voice… No way.
"I sure hope you would not."
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm not letting you do whatever you want; not with him."
It can't be…there's just no way!
"So, you are going to be the thorn in my side now, Toudou Naoya!"
All sense of reality goes out the window. Common sense is losing its definition with each passing moment tonight. There's just no way it's him, it just can't be. I mean…how…when?
"Kei, are you okay?"
His face, hair, voice, everything… It really is him.
"Naoya…why are you here?"
"...I'll tell you later. Just stay behind me." He stands in front of me, facing down the enemy with a powerful and serious air about him.
"What a lovely reunion. I suppose now I don't have to wonder when I would have to deal with you."
A brazen smile stretches across Naoya's mouth. "Deal with me? You were shaking in those fake shoes of yours when I showed. Besides, a second or two against me, you'll just be a black smear on the streets."
Shiki races past Nyarlathotep, closing in on us in seconds. He's going for Naoya! He leaps off the ground. He forms a crystal dagger in his hand.
"Nao–"
A flash of steel cleaves through the ice with ease. A short, pleasant shade of purple hair captures my attention as they position themselves in front of Naoya with a stylish flourish. Naoya maneuvers past her, slamming his fist into Shiki's body. A hard thump roars across the bridge, and the air itself ripples from the strike. Shiki spits out an alarming amount of blood.
"Stay out of this."
The enemy goes flying, his body crashes through a frozen-over car. Nyaralthotep doesn't look surprised, just mildly frustrated by the whole situation.
"Let me see that." The swordsman comes over to me, holding her hand to my head. An incredible healing aura does away with most of the wounds on my body and brings back some of my energy. "I wish we could have seen each other again under better circumstances."
Her voice is as soothing as ever, and that purple hair is just as elegant as I remembered it.
"Eriko…san?"
"Ah, you remember me! It's wonderful to see you again. You've gotten so tall, too."
Eriko-san is one of Naoya's friends from High School…she used to visit when I was younger. Her smile was dazzling back then, and it still is now. But…none of this makes sense.
"Eriko-san…what's–"
"I know you must have questions, but now isn't the time."
"You're the one to talk," Naoya says after a short chortle. "And what was with that entrance? Couldn't you have just popped in sooner?"
"Sorry, but I simply couldn't resist entering in such a dashing way."
Still can't wrap my head around any of this, but now isn't the time to keep gawking at them like an idiot! Fuuka, just wait a little longer.
"Naoya, he took Fuuka."
"You mean your girlfriend!?"
"Yeah…I have to get her back."
"Kei, just leave this to us."
"I can still fight!"
My body is still aching, but that doesn't matter. I can move my limbs, that's good enough.
"As much as you would like to take her back now, my business here has concluded." A black swirl stretches out from Nyarlathnotep's feet, covering up the ground in a pitch-black muck. Shiki wades through it, holding his hand over his stomach. "I have what I have come for. Whether you come to reclaim her or not is up to you, Kazuki Kei."
"Get back here, you bastard!"
"Kazuki, wait!" Shizuka pulls me back before a lance that dropped from the sky can run me through. The wielder descends from the sky with the help of her Persona… "So, you're finally awake, Arisato Minako."
Her long, unkept, auburn hair covers her features, but her posture looks lifeless, almost as if every bit of her soul was sucked out of her. The lance returns to her hands, and she takes her place to the enemy's side.
"We shall take our leave." From the black tide, Fuuka, unconscious, ascends to that snarling bastard's hands. "...All of us."
I break free from Shizuka's grip, running to get to her before they leave. "Fuuka!"
"Too soon. Play with these instead."
Black, formless splashes blotch the road, and monsters of various appearances, shapes, and sizes appear; all of them are salivating at the thought of devouring every human on this bridge. Nyarlathotep and his group take their leave into a black doorway.
He turns back to me with a new face. Not mine, Fuuka's, or anyone else on this bridge, but someone who should be dead… Her gorgeous black hair flowed to her shoulders and those wonderful brown eyes always stared at me with love in the only photo I have of her.
"I shall see you soon, my child of darkness."
"Mom?" I always wanted to hear her voice, but not like this; never like this! He begins to march off into the void. "N-no, Fu-Fuuka!"
The doorway closes behind them as the horde of monsters presses onward toward us, swarming the bridge, pushing past each other…
"Kei, behind us!" Naoya and Eriko-san put themselves in front of me, pointing their weapons at the monsters coming for us. "Elly, ready?"
"Of course. Seeing this many demons, it's just as thrilling as I remember it."
Shizuka drew a tanto blade from under her uniform. "Let me assist you."
Fuuka…and my mom… He took the woman I love, and now he had the nerve to wear my mom's face, disgracing her memory…! That bastard isn't getting away with any of it. Human or not, he's mine!
I get up from the ground and push up my hair. "Let me help, too."
"Kei, just–"
"Please! I need something to hit!"
I'm gonna get her back, and then I'm gonna kill that creepy bastard! Even if it kills me, I'll do it!
"...Naoya, let us discuss this later," Eriko-san sharply says. "...For now…"
"Yeah, I know. Fine, but follow our lead, you two."
"Right," I affirm, bearing my sword.
"Here goes. Come, Amen Ra!"
10/5 - Port Island - Naoya's hotel room - Morning - Kazuki
Morning couldn't come any faster. After everything that happened, I barely got any sleep, and when I did, Fuuka's face always came to haunt me. Her scared voice begged me to come save her. I want to, I really do, but the only one who knows anything is Shizuka, and she left to go scout the city…
"Coffee?" Eriko-san offers, holding another cup in her other hand.
"Thank you." I carefully place the cup on the table, watching the piping hot liquid inside.
"...That girl they took, are you two…"
"She's my girlfriend."
"I see. I'm sorry we couldn't rescue her then and there."
"It's not your fault. It's mine. I could've protected her if I didn't keep my distance."
"Why did you?"
"We had a fight…a bad one."
"Ah…"
"I wanted to apologize, so I didn't try to bother her. But I did it because I felt awkward around her… What the hell is wrong with me? All I did was make excuses and kept myself away from her. I wanted to understand what I did wrong…"
If I had just owned up and apologized for hurting her feelings, then this wouldn't have happened.
"Pardon me for any rudeness, but sulking about will not bring her back. What matters now is going to wherever she is and rescuing her… However, if it is matters of the heart and if you are unsure of what you have done, then I feel as if you must ask her yourself."
"Ask her?"
"You cannot know what she is constantly feeling, especially in a relationship. That is why communication is an important fundamental to human interaction. If she has a grievance with you, she must voice it, and you have to show her you understand. A relationship is not kept afloat by one person, but the both of you. If you two are not able to talk to one another honestly, then I fear it is doomed…"
I never thought of it that way. I never thought to ask what goes into a relationship other than love or fondness. There's so much I haven't been honest about with her, and there are probably things she has never told me before… Man, I'm such an idiot.
"Thank you, Eriko-san, and you're right. Feeling sorry for myself won't do anything. I can't let things end the way we left them." I tighten my fist and drink a bit of the warm coffee. Bitter, but more than enough to revitalize myself. "...I'll get her back!" She replies with an out-of-place giggle. "Did I say something funny?"
"No, not at all. It's just, seeing you as you are now is wonderful. The 'you' now and the 'dreary-eyed boy' from years back are so starkly different. It's unbelievable how much you have grown."
"Oh, um, thank you."
"And you are still so politely shy. How cute."
"Th–that's just how I am!"
Why does she have to treat me like a little boy? I'm going to be 17 soon! Though, I don't think that matters to her.
"...But Eriko-san… I need to know. Why were you and Naoya here? But more importantly, why are you able to use Personas?" Her whimsical joy washes away, replaced by a reluctant hesitance. "Please, I deserve to know."
The door to the apartment opens. Naoya comes in with bags of food from Wild Duck. "Anyone hungry?"
He puts them on the table. I like this stuff but eating it in the morning is a bit… However, my stomach is too empty for me to put up an argument against it. I take out whatever I can get my hands on. A burger and some fries, that'll do. A minute or two later, I feel a bit better after finishing my food.
"...Kei, I'll tell you everything you want to know." Was he eavesdropping on our conversation? "...But first, when did you come into contact with Nyarlathotep?"
"A couple of months back. He used one of my teammates to fight us."
"Do you mean the girl with auburn hair?"
"Yeah… She should've been in a coma."
"He must've woken her up, I guess," Naoya surmises. "He's also probably responsible for whatever demon activity happened here."
"Why do you know about that, and him, and how can you use a Persona?"
A long, nerving silence strangles the atmosphere in the room. He glances away from me, pained by the questions, or maybe he's scared for me to know… Eventually, he takes a deep breath and faces me with a resolved glare.
"I will tell you everything, Kei. But for now, we have to focus on one thing: Nyarlathotep. Do you know why he took your girlfriend?"
"...To lure him." Shizuka walks into the room with a newspaper in her hands. "He doesn't care about Yamagishi's abilities or her, just you."
"Why me?"
"I cannot say. But it's safe to say that you are important to him, which is why he wished to spare you last night."
True. Aigis would be on the chopping block if it weren't for Naoya and Eriko-san. But he wanted Shizuka spared, too.
"He wanted you alive as well," I tell her.
"The only reason he wished for me to live was to guide you to where he is."
"Why?" Naoya asks, letting his unease show.
"Again, I am unsure. But…I'm certain that's why he kept me alive. All roads lead back to 'that place'."
Shizuka looked as if she was going to hurl at the end there, but she quickly put her poker face back on. But if that's true, then Fuuka's bound to be there. She has to be!
"How do we get there?" Eriko-san asks, eyeing Shizuka with a careful gaze.
"We need to leave, and head to Mikage-cho."
Huh!?
"They're in Mikage-cho?" Naoya asks in my stead, expressing the same confusion as me.
"Well, technically, but if we wish to reach them, then we must head there."
Horrible, awful memories of that place flood my mind. For so long, I didn't have to think about that place or the things that happened there. I never wanted to go back, even when I graduated from high school. I hate that place. But if Fuuka is there, I'll go back!
"What is with the newspaper?"
"Ah, right. Kazuki, read this." She hands it to me. "Read the bottom part…"
My eyes scan for anything of interest. There's a report of sudden damages all over the city, especially pieces of a car lodged in a building. But that's not too big of a deal to me, so–
"What…what is this?"
"Kei, what happened?"
"Teenage youth killed in a gang-related incident in an alleyway at Port Island station… Aragaki Shinjiro…!"
The paper slips out of my hands. Aragaki-senpai…is dead? No way! I mean, but… Did Nyarlathotep do it?
"A gunshot wound killed him. His body was found by the dorm residence… He was likely killed during the Dark Hour. As for the culprit's identity, I am unable to give a conclusive answer." Aragaki-senpai wasn't a bad person…he didn't deserve to die like that; in some alleyway. "Kazuki, I just wanted to let you know, but we can't allow it to sidetrack us."
"You're…right, yeah. I just hope Sanada-senpai will be alright."
They were friends after all, so if anyone is taking it the hardest, then it has to be him, and Kirijo-senpai too, for that matter. Maybe they're holding a funeral for him at school, and I, Fuuka, and Shizuka aren't there to pay our respects.
"Allow us to backtrack to the subject at hand," Eriko-san says without hesitation. "...How dangerous will this be? Are we expecting strong demons?"
"Yes."
"I see. Then this is undoubtedly a trap."
"Correct… Where we're going, it will be a trial unlike any other, and you may even wish to not go through with it… You may even find it hellish." Shizuka stares off into space, appearing more lifeless than stoic. "...That being said, do you want to go?"
"Of course," I answer without a second to spare. "I don't care what this place is, if Fuuka is there, I'm going!"
She slightly frowns at me, then aims her sights on the other two. "What about you two?"
"If he's going, then we have to as well," Naoya returns with a poised response. "Besides, letting him get away with kidnapping isn't my style."
"Of course, I will join as well," Eriko-san graciously declares.
Shizuka shuts her eyes, dawning her usual stoicism once again. "Then…it's decided. We should depart immediately. Sitting around here will do nothing. Kazuki, we need to gather things from the dorm while school is still going. We'll all meet at Port Island station before 11:00 A.M."
She left the room before I could agree to that. Not like I have to, but I'd like to feel like I have some input.
"I'll be going. See you two at the station."
I run after her while waving them goodbye. Shizuka is leaving me in her dust. Something is bothering her. Maybe the place she mentioned? Maybe I should ask, but she'd just keep tight-lipped about it. I'm sure it's fine. I gotta focus on getting Fuuka back… I'll get you back. Wait for me.